Page 42 of Savannah Heat
“Thanks, I can be an adult when I have to be. But no, being one is not what we thought it would be. One hard decision after another and combined with wrinkles and weight gain. No wonder people have midlife issues.”
Jenna sighed. “I wish my grandmother was still here to advise me. But I’m serious about this house, because I do feel at home here.”
“Would it have to be this particular house, or is it you just want to put down roots, in something like this here in Savannah—someplace you can call your real home?”
“I guess it’s what I need to decide, isn’t it?” Jenna reached for her coffee. “I do know one thing; I am ready to make some changes in my life. If we get out of this in one piece, I’m putting it tops on my list. Note to self: change entire life.”
Jenna was happy Dan didn’t follow her upstairs and try to change her mind or question her when she left the room to take a shower. He knew her well enough to leave her alone with her thoughts and give her the space she needed to clear her head. She had never been more grateful.
Once out of the shower, Jenna changed into her running clothes while Dan cleaned up the kitchen. She hoped answers would come as she ran. They often did. As she went out the front door, it occurred to her Dan didn’t say what he wanted. She did all the talking, and he said nothing about his plans for the future.
By the time Jenna returned from her run, she knew what she wanted to do next. After this current chaos in her life was put right, she was now ready to plan ahead. Whether Dan would be part of it or not would be up to him.
Jenna found Dan in the kitchen on his phone.
He was making notes and held up his hand, and mouthed Luc as he continued to make notes. He put the phone on the table and hit the speaker button.
Jenna listened as Luc read out dates and names she had heard before but couldn’t place at the moment. She pulled a bottle of water from the refrigerator and sat across from Dan trying to see his notes, but nothing made sense.
“Okay, thanks a million. I owe you big time.” Dan ended the call and glanced at Jenna. “I think we have the missing piece.”
“Good, I want to get this settled and out of my life. What is it?”
Dan looked down at his notes. “Harper Clavell was Diana Delmonte before, as we found out. What we didn’t know is her mother was married to Boris Roget! Yes, the one and only big-time fence, European criminal, and mafia connection for all high-value stolen property—and who we more or less put in prison.”
Jenna slammed her water bottle down on the table. “Yes! That is where I’ve seen her before—she was in a family photograph on Roget’s desk in his Paris home. Harper was his stepdaughter, of course. I knew I’d seen that face. But the put-on persona, voice, hair color, and slight accent were throwing me. She let her looks and behavior distract from anything else—on purpose. Cunning. She is a good actress, and it was a good plan, and it worked.”
Dan nodded. “Yes, so it is beginning to make more sense. She has tried to hook up with me on purpose for whatever the plan was or is. It has taken her years to get to this point. Talk about patience—and determination.”
“Revenge, the dish best served cold, as we know. She must have been about seventeen in the picture I saw. She was a striking girl even then, sitting atop her horse near their vineyard. Long blonde hair tied into a braid hanging down her back, and with the look on her face saying, look at me, even then.”
“From what Luc told me, it sounds as if Roget was more like a real father, and she was denied nothing.”
“That explains her attitude,” Jenna said.
“When did you see the picture?”
As she thought back to that day, Jenna smiled. “The picture was in my direct line of vision as I sat in front of Roget’s computer, trying to break his password. I didn’t remember it on purpose, but my subconscious clocked it.”
Dan laughed at clocked it and gave her a thumbs-up. “Got the detective talk down. So, we’re talking revenge. We took back the stolen jewels from him, a fortune, but worse, we’re responsible for Roget going to jail and then dying there.”
“Yeah, we pretty much destroyed her world, and I’m sure it impacted everything in her life, as well. Basically, we killed her dad, at least in her eyes,” Jenna said, shaking her head. “This makes her more dangerous than your ordinary jewel thief.”
Dan ran his hands through his hair. “She wants to ruin us, especially me, or maybe worse, and I’m thinking of Amato lurking around.”
“At least we know who she is now and can prepare for it. I still can’t figure out why she was buddying up to Gail, except maybe to put ideas into her head about me, or both of us, not as if she needed to encourage Gail to go for you,” Jenna said.
Again, Dan looked down at his notes. “Yeah, if she can get Gail on her side, as her eyes and ears, and one of her contacts, she will be ahead of the game. Gail can find out things Harper can’t without arousing a lot of suspicion. Not to sound the alarm bells any louder, but tonight is the night. In no way has she gone through all of this to slink away and give up the Blalock diamond.”
“But how does all of this come back to us? How does she plan to get us accused of the thefts? And who is the actual thief? Is she doing it herself, or is someone doing it for her? And what’s with the red hair she has left several places?”
Dan grinned. “All the right questions. Luc told me about a recent theft in Key West, Florida, and they have now attributed it to the Red Cat based on some other information that’s come in. He’s trying to find proof Harper-Diana was in Key West then. He can pass it on to the FBI here and to us, of course. It’s a certainty they are gearing up to take the Blalock Diamond from the senator’s wife and blame me now. I know it in my bones.”
Jenna stood and stretched. “She’s not stupid, or they-she, couldn’t have gotten this far without being caught. I doubt Harper-Diana left that kind of trail in Key West. I think we can now be sure she has a partner.”
Dan paced across the kitchen floor. “A partner, yes, it makes sense she might. But another question, who is calling the shots, is it her or her partner? Until we know who the partner is, we don’t really know what we are dealing with here.”
Dan’s text pinged. “It’s the senator.” He stopped to read the text. “Oh, this is insane! Why would he do this?”